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this is a step in the right direction, but wo realise that the Insurance
Association will be confronted with serious difficulties. We consider
that the reintroduction of a system of rebate for safe storage might
meet the desire of the Insurance Companies to preserve the higher tariff
for premises under Chinese management and at the same time to quote low
rates for premises which are of more elaborate construction and less
subject to fire risk. Such a system might also offer an inducement to
godown proprietors to adapt existing promises or construct new premises
with improved anti-fire precautions.
Powers of Inspection of the Fire Brigade:
82.
The Fire Brigade or the Police are authorised to search any pre-
mises which they have "reasonable grounds" for suspecting may contain
something liable to seizure, which is the penalty for improper storage.
It is clear that the Fire Brigade's powers of inspection are therefore
somewhat limited, as it is difficult to define "reasonable grounds",
though apparently an anonymous letter is regarded as such. It might be
difficult to give the Fire Brigade unlimited powers of inspection by
removing the "reasonable grounds" phrase, as this would allow them un-
reasonable powers of interfering with the individual. A solution re-
commended by the Insurance Companies and which would be welcomed by
the Chief Officer would be that all godown storage whether for dangerous
goods or for ordinary goods should be registered annually and subject
to inspection at any time by authorised inspectors. We do not think
that such a system of registration would impose any undue hardship on
godown-proprietors, (we understand that the Fire Insurance Association
has recently requested all godown proprietors to register their godowns
voluntarily with the Association), nor do we think that it would be ad-
ministratively impracticable. Such a system of registration with con-
comitant powers of inspection from time to time would certainly give
the Chief Officer much more power to ensure the enforcement of the stor-
age regulations, which in our opinion are an essential part of the fire
prevention service. The number of large godowns in the Colony is not
very great, but we were unable to ascertain the number of smaller stor-
age places which could be classified as godowns or warehouses. It should